“Damn.”
“They’ve put themselves directly in our path.”
“We’ve stopped our forward motion,” Hiranaka said.
Mehta shook her head. “Just go around them.” That was one thing she liked about space. There was a lot of room to maneuver, and it would be hard for a single ship to block their way.
“They’re compensating,” Ramirez said.
“I’m not very good at this,” Hiranaka said. “Every time I turn...”
Mehta nodded. The controls were just different enough that everyone was having trouble.
“What about Netherspace? Can we get back into it?”
“Trel thinks he’s found the problem,” Opash said, “but it’s going to take several hours to repair, and that’s after he finds the part. He’s still looking.”
Damn. Without the extra speed that Netherspace offered, they had no hope of losing the Mralans.
A light blinked on her communications console. “Looks like they’re trying to call us.”
An image popped onto the auxiliary screen, and she saw an old Mralan woman, her face hard. She was dressed in the same type of dark robe Aahliss wore. “Who is she?” Mehta asked.
“She’s the senior counselor,” Opash said.
“Species X ship,” the counselor said in a grave tone, “we cannot let you pass into this system. Turn around and go back where you came from.”
“Where did the remote go?” Mehta said, looking around the console.
“On the floor,” Davis said, pointing to a spot near Mehta’s right foot.
Mehta reached down and grabbed it, then regretted the move. The room spun. She grabbed the console with her free hand and planted her palm on the floor. As soon as the dizziness passed, she reached for the remote. “Got it.”
She stood then, walking to the center of the room as she had done before, not certain the stance would impress the Mralans the way she hoped, but certain she didn’t want to take this call sitting down. She pressed the remote. “Mralan ship,” she said, and noted that the counselor who had spoken to her looked surprised. “We are not Species X, and we are returning to where we came from. So, get out of the way.”
The Counselor’s face became harder than it had been, which surprised Mehta. “You’re humans?”
“We’ve confiscated this ship, and we’re taking it back to Earth. If you don’t get out of the way, we’ll attack you just like the other Species X ships attacked, and you’ll be destroyed. You have ten seconds to comply.”
Ramirez looked at her, his brows drawn tightly together. “Can we do it?”
“We have the power,” Mehta said. “Cut gravity to one third.”
“Powering up weapons,” Davis said.
“Give me a reading on their shields.”
“I haven’t figured out how to do that,” Ramirez said. “I recommend you just put all the energy into weapons.”
“The countdown continues,” Mehta said into the remote. “Four, three, two...”
“Wait!” a male voice said from the other ship. “Don’t shoot! We can talk this over, can’t we?”
“Is this just a stalling tactic?” Mehta said. “You have other ships on the way?”
“No.” A man stepped onto the screen, tall and gray, with plumped cheeks and rounded jowls.
Opash gasped. “We can’t shoot them,” she whispered. “That’s the Final Arbiter.”
Mehta looked at him and frowned. Why had they brought the head of the government here? She turned off her mic.
“How am I supposed to address him?” she said to Opash.
“You call him Mediator.”
Weird. But she didn’t have time for more instruction. “Ramirez,” she said, “can you get someone on the Earth end?”
“Yes.”
“Pull up all the drawings and specifications for this type of ship, then get someone on the line to receive, and start transmitting as much as you can.”
“I’m not sure the commo unit they have will do data.”
“It does video. That’s a kind of data, isn’t it?”
“It doesn’t store the video. How do we get it to store the data?”
“Actually,” Mehta said, “that’s for them to figure out at the distant end. Just tell them what you’re trying to do.”
She watched Ramirez nod, and he went to work.
She keyed her microphone. “Tell me, Mediator, do you usually go around patrolling with the fleet?”
He smiled indulgently. “We understood your shuttle had been attacked by a Species X ship. Naturally, we thought you were all dead, and I was coming to Earth to give my regrets to your government.”
“How nice of you.”
“It’s not a pleasant duty.”
“And now you want to talk?” she said. “Just talk? Or are you prepared to compromise?”
He shook his head with frustration. “We’re trying not to anger the Spirits. This is a very delicate matter.”
“You’d better be more worried about angering the humans,” Mehta said. “We can make great allies, but trust me, you don’t want us as enemies.”
The man on the screen chuckled, but he didn’t look amused. “Those are empty threats.”
“Can you sense my feelings from here?” she asked. “Because if you can, you’ll know there’s nothing empty about them.”
“You can’t carry them out.”
“You underestimate us.” She stretched her lips into a thin smile. “How do you think we got this ship?”
“Well, I...” His brows creased.
“That’s right. We beat them. We took on a fully functional Species X ship and we beat them, with a shuttle that had no weapons. You still think we can’t carry out our threats?”
He laughed in that way people do when they’re not liking what they hear, but they want to dismiss it anyway. “But you did have a shuttle. Once you return to Earth, you’ll have nothing.”
“Not if I have anything to say about it.”
“You need to surrender your ship to us.”
“I’m not surrendering anything. And you’d better get out of the way, or I will fire on you.”
He shook his head and sighed. “That’s not necessary. Let’s just talk.”
Mehta frowned. “Talk, then. What are you proposing?”
“We continue to protect your planet, and in exchange, you go back and tell your government to stop asking for technology.”
“So, nothing new. You’re wasting my time. Move over.”
He looked straight into her eyes. “Fine. Fire.”
Mehta flipped off her audio channel, then looked at Ramirez. “How’s the transmission coming?”
“We need much more time,” he said. “Colonel Freeman has an engineer working on transferring the data to memory, but it’s not operational yet.”
“Damn.”
“I see you’re having trouble,” the Final Arbiter said.
“What’s his name?” Mehta asked Opash.
“Chlem,” Opash said. “You’re not going to call him by his name, are you?”
“No trouble, Chlem,” she said. Then she looked at Davis. “Are weapons ready?”
“Ready.”
“Do you have someone on sensors, Chlem?” Mehta asked. Damn, she really wanted to call him Chump.
“Yes, of course.”
“Do you see how much power we have in our weapons right now?” She waited a moment while Chlem looked to the side, then he looked back at her. His face had turned white. “How much damage will that do to your ship?”
“This isn’t necessary,” he said. “We can work something out.”
“Firing, now,” Mehta said, and nodded at Davis, who moved his hand toward the fire control.
“No! We’ll move. We’ll let you pass.”
Mehta raised her hand to tell Davis to hold fire. “I expect to see movement immediately.”
“They’re moving,” Ramirez said.
Mehta turned to Hiranaka. “Continue towar
d Earth.”
Before they reached the orbit of Uranus, the same Mralan ship appeared in front of them, and this time, there were two more ships alongside it.
“Mierda,” Ramirez whispered. “They learn fast.” He looked at her. “Ambush tactics?”
“I got nothing else,” Mehta said, frowning. “But wait until I give the word.” She looked at the three ships, imagined the power they represented. She and her crew were probably going to die out here. Even with her cool ambush response tactics and her extra power, she wasn’t going to be able to beat three ships at once—especially with such a small crew.
Ramirez had only recently gotten the transmissions to Earth going, and they were progressing at the pace of a wounded slug. There was no way to tell when Earth would have enough information to build their own fleet.
“Species X ship,” Chlem said, “stop now. You are not allowed to approach Earth.”
Mehta nodded at Opash, and she brought the ship to a halt. “I guess now, we stall, too.” She turned back to Chlem and opened her commo channel. “Okay, Chump, exactly where do you want us to go?”
“What did you call me?”
“Hm. The translator must have messed up.”
“I don’t think so.”
“Answer the question. If we can’t go to Earth, where should we go?”
“We’ll send a shuttle to pick you up, we’ll bring you back to this ship, and then we’ll drop the humans off on Earth.”
“What’ll happen to the Mralans that came with us?”
Chlem’s brows pulled together. “We’ll have to make a decision about that. They have sided against us and should probably be punished.”
Mehta turned off her audio. “I’m guessing they’ve never had to deal with treason before. They probably don’t even have a word for it, not to mention a punishment.”
“Yes,” Ramirez said. “Let’s hope they decide it’s a minor infraction.”
“How are we doing on the download?”
“Less than two percent complete.”
Mehta let out a long breath. “I’ve got to stall for a long time.” She looked around the alien bridge. Was there anything else they could do? “Can you tell Freeman to work on making the data transfer go faster?”
Ramirez shook his head. “The hold-up is in the rate of transfer from here.”
Not a problem they were likely going to be able to fix. “Okay, anyone who has an idea about how to prolong this, raise your hand.”
The hands stayed on the controls. Great. That meant it was all up to her.
She looked back at the screen. “Chlem, this whole thing isn’t going to work. You need help. You need extra manpower, and you need our knowledge.”
Aahliss walked up to Chlem and stood beside him, looking directly at Mehta. “You can stop your arguments now. I have already explained to the Final Arbiter everything that happened on Fmedg’s ship. Now you need to comply with the decision of the council.”
“Just tell me,” Mehta said, “so I can understand. What did we do wrong? We saved a whole ship full of your compatriots, and then we’re kicked off the ship. I want to know what mistake we made.”
“The things you wanted us to do were too difficult. And being in the presence of so many humans was too disconcerting.”
“And you were wrong,” Mehta said.
“What do you mean?”
“You said you thought this whole alliance thing wasn’t going to work. Once it did, you had to find some other way to sabotage it, so you could still be right.”
“That’s ridiculous!” she said with a huff. “I greatly wanted it to be successful.”
“But only if it was easy, and nobody got uncomfortable. Come on! Those creatures were trying to kill you! It’s worth a little discomfort to stay alive.” Mehta turned to the image of Chlem on the screen. “And what about you? What do you say we did wrong?”
“Um...”
Opash stood. “Mediator,” she said, “we must have this alliance. We have much we still need to learn. I mean, look at us, here inside this ship. Do you know what it means? This woman,” she gestured toward Mehta, “single handedly defeated Species X when we didn’t even have weapons. We need that kind of skill and knowledge.”
Chlem shook his head. “I understand. But we have a concern that’s more urgent.”
“Oh, no,” Mehta whispered. Reason was about to be trumped by feelings.
“What’s more important than the survival of the Fleet of the Protectorate?” Opash asked.
“The return of the Spirits.”
“What does this have to do with that?” Mehta said.
“Aahliss believes they’ll never come back as long as we’re in the midst of such disharmony.”
“They didn’t abandon you during the time of the Rajeen,” Mehta said. “I don’t think that argument stands.”
“Contacting you was a violation of the rules of the Protectorate,” Aahliss said, “the very rules the Spirits gave us. We have to repent of this transgression, or they’ll never return.”
“Do you know that for certain?” Mehta said. “Who told you that?”
“The Spirits have said nothing,” a young woman standing on the other side of Chlem said as she stepped forward.
Chlem indicated her with his hand. “This is Aolyk, the speaker for the Spirits.”
“Yes,” Aahliss said. “But you know she’s had little experience in this calling, and her predecessor had no personal knowledge with which to teach her. We cannot count on the Speaker to tell us what to do.”
“So, the Spirits haven’t told you that we’re what’s keeping them from returning.”
“No,” Chlem said.
“Then you’re just guessing.”
Chlem and the speaker looked at each other with what appeared to be discomfort.
“They gave us the rules of the Protectorate!” Aahliss said, pumping her fists, her face turning red. “They told us what we should and shouldn’t do. If contacting you was right, they would have returned already.”
“Okay, here’s what I see,” Mehta said. “I see a group of people who have a difficult time making decisions. So, when there’s something important to decide, you look to your higher power, the Spirits, for guidance. But they’re gone now, and you’re all like children without any adult supervision. You’re scared, you’re confused, and you want your mommy back.”
“That was insulting,” Chlem said.
“Yeah. Well, I’ve given up on being nice. It doesn’t get through.”
“So, you think being disrespectful will help?”
“You lost my respect when you wouldn’t listen to reason.”
“How dare you question the decision of the council?” Aahliss spat at her.
“You want my respect?” Mehta said. “It’s a two-way street. You have done nothing but dismiss everything I’ve had to say, and you expect me to be impressed with that?”
“I think it’s time for you to follow our instructions,” Chlem said.
“I think it’s time for you to grow up,” Mehta said. “You need to learn to trust your thinking and do what you know is right.”
“That’s not true!” Aahliss said. “Final Arbiter Bnarch did what he thought was right, against the advice of the Spirits, and look at what it got us.”
“Yes, indeed,” Mehta said. “It got you an enemy called Species X.”
“What?” Chlem said.
“They fit the description,” Mehta said, “and they certainly have reason to be angry with you.”
“How does this prove your point?” Chlem said. “It sounds like it demonstrates quite clearly how we should be scrupulous in obeying the Spirits.”
“Bnarch didn’t make his decision based on any facts or understanding of the planet, except that there were minerals there you needed. But you didn’t do a thorough survey of the planet and its inhabitants. Otherwise, you would have realized that the planet was already occupied. You would have re
alized that it should have been a protected planet. If you had studied the planet first, you would have known what was right.”
Chlem frowned. “That may be true, but how do I know what’s right now?”
Mehta cocked her head, her smile apologetic. “The truth is, you can’t always know. The best you can do is make a decision based on the facts at hand. Sometimes you might be wrong, but usually you’ll do okay.”
“Well,” Aahliss said, “the fact is, the Spirits have not returned, and it’s because of you.”
“Unless you can find a Speaker for the Spirits who will vouch for that, it’s not a fact, it’s a guess.” She turned back to Chlem. “Sir, I beseech you, look at the facts. Look at the danger your people still face.”
“That’s not a problem,” Aahliss said. “We have the tactic.”
“You can’t win a war with one tactic!” Mehta said.
“No,” Chlem said, holding up his hand. “That’s not the point. The real issue is the act of giving technology to a less developed species. The Spirits expressly forbade it.”
“You mean, ‘they never authorized it,’” Mehta said.
“No, they forbade it.”
“But they helped you get technology, didn’t they?”
His mouth hung open. “What?”
“They led you to a planet with the technology, and they helped you decipher the diagrams, the language of that ancient civilization, didn’t they?”
“That’s different,” Aahliss said.
“How so? They did it to help you defend yourself and establish the Protectorate. This is the same situation. You need us to save you, and to keep the Protectorate alive.”
Chlem shook his head. “I think you’re trying to manipulate us into agreeing. But it won’t work.”
“You’ve got to be kidding,” Mehta said. “I give you an argument you can’t refute, and the best you can do is say I’m manipulating?”
“Surrender your ship, now.”
She huffed, shaking her head. There had to be something she could say, some way she could get him to see reason. “What about Species X?”
“I don’t think that’s a concern. Species X has lost two ships. They’ll be more careful now.”
“They certainly are,” Ramirez said.
Mehta spun her head around. “What?”
“Ten ships, approaching from all directions. They’re about to englobe us.”
No Plan Survives (Tales from the Protectorate Book 1) Page 26
